BUCHAREST, Romania – Romania’s central bank governor said Monday he won’t seek another term after almost three decades in the post.

National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu responded to a question whether he would seek another mandate when it expires in 2019.

“I can’t do it any longer,” the 68-year-old said.

Touching on recent disagreements with the left-wing government which has promised wage hikes for public sector workers and higher pensions, Isarescu said: “They say what the popular vote wants, and we say what the economy can deliver.”

Isarescu was appointed to the post in September 1990 and has held it ever since, except for an 11-month period from 1999 to 2000, when he was the country’s prime minister.

In the 1990s, he negotiated several agreements with the International Monetary Fund.

In 2005, in a bid to end years of rampant inflation, he introduced the new leu, which saw four zeros removed from the national currency.

Separately, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, a political rival of the government, blasted Prime Minister Viorica Dancila Monday evening for alleged incompetence and called on her to resign. Only Parliament, and not the president, can remove her.

He accused the government of overspending, saying tax collection was down and Romania had failed to draw on European Union funds.